Before I start I must confess; I don’t know much about wine but I do know one thing, and that’s what I like. So, here goes… Over the last few months I’ve been working too hard and not playing enough, activity which has left my wine racks feeling unloved. Luckily with a bit of help from my partner, my mum and a week off work I soon took the load off the racks!

My wine week started off with a visit to the newly opened Le Palais de Jardin at Westfield Shopping Centre. Have you been? It’s a lovely restaurant, with a contemporary art deco feel, dark polished wood, crisp white table cloths and friendly, helpful staff. Spoilt for choice we chose 12 Pacific Rock Oysters and a bottle of Domaine Grand Roche Chablis 2008. It was light, dry, crisp and fruity, with floral and citrus aromas; absolutely perfect with the seafood (and cheeky pudding we later devoured).

Later that week we went to a wedding which unexpectedly turned out to be a gin & slimline tonic day. Except for a glass of champagne for the toast there wasn’t a drop of wine in sight! I did notice that the top table were drinking Laurent-Perrier Demi-Sec, not my favourite champagne so I don’t feel we missed out…..!

After too many gin & slimlines it was a couple of days before I could stomach a glass of anything, you know the feeling, but my mum was coming to London so I took a deep breath and went shopping for a bottle of something special. I chose Sainsbury’s Champagne Blanc de Noirs Brut Non Vintage and it turned out to be a delicious start to a lovely evening.

Being a creature of habit I wined and dined my Mum at Le Palais de Jardin at Westfield where this time we washed down two courses with a bottle of Spanish white, Enate Chardonnay 234, 2009 from Somontano; a crisp, clean and intensely fruity wine; ladled with peach, apple and exotic fruit aromas.

After a pretty busy week off I’m feeling rather wined-out although that didn’t stop me from drinking a lovely glass of Yalumba ‘The Y Series’ Unwooded Chardonnay 2008 from South Australia while I wrote my wine diary for Miss B! After all a large glass of wine after a long, gruelling day at work is the only way to truly unwine’d!!

With thanks to Rachel Curran of www.rachsrandomrecipes.blogspot.comfor sharing her wine diary on missbouquet.com. Although she claims not to know too much about wine the champagne she chose for her mum was recently awarded second place in a blind champagne taste-test conducted by Which? magazine, Sainsbury’s Blanc de Noirs non-vintage champagne (£15.98) scored only one percentage point less than the more prestigious (and far pricier) Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label (£31.91)! It just goes to show that the English caveat of ‘I don’t know much about wine but…..’ is far too often misused!
Miss B x